Anime Girls Who Play The Bass Guitar

And it goes without saying that with my recent blog of anime girls who play the guitar, it is not long before I come up with another blog entry for anime girls who play the bass guitar. I play the bass guitar myself too, albeit not as good as my guitar. Every decent band definitely needs a bass player, right? Albeit bass players are often ‘side-lined’ and ‘unimportant’ when you try to name members of a group. Heck, when you listen to music, you can catch all the other ‘loud’ music instruments in the background and the bass might be the last and hard to listen due to its low tone and often goes unnoticed (unless you have that catchy bass line like Michael Jackson’s Billie Jean). You might find that many of these bassist girls to be from the same group as in my previous female guitarist blog. Because after all like I’ve said, every group needs to have a bassist.

Bassist: Mio Akiyama.
Anime: K-ON!
Band: Houkago Tea Time (Afterschool Tea Time).
Bass model: Fender Japan’62 Reissue Jazz Bass.
Comment: It goes without saying that thanks to the popularity of this anime, Mio becomes the most popular bassist in anime of all time. She is what makes this anime so moe. She is what makes playing the bass so moe. Everything about her is just so moe!

Bassist: Suzu Fujimi.
Anime: Super Sonico The Animation.
Band: First Astronomical Velocity.
Comment: Hmm… Group founder, songwriter and lead singer… It is hard to be more famous than your busty mascot who is the star of a series with her own name.

Bassist: Shiori Sekine.
Anime: Angel Beats.
Band: Girls Dead Monster AKA GirlDeMo.
Bass model: G&L L-2000.
Comment: With Iwasawa and Yui taking up much of the band’s focus, bassists like her are just reduced to being side characters even in her own band. But at least she has a little more personality than most ignored bassists. Yeah, she likes to play pranks on others. Maybe that’s why…

Bassist: Mai Zaizen.
Anime: Suzumiya Haruhi No Yuutsu.
Band: ENOZ.
Bass model: Fender Precision.
Comment: Not much known about her. Well, at least she gets to play during the school cultural festival as opposed to her band’s original guitarists.

Bassist: Nagiko Kurokawa.
Anime: Girlfriend (Kari).
Band: Neuron Cream Soft.
Comment: Hmm… So suspicious… The striking similarities… Got a feeling that this band leader is modelled closely after Mio from K-ON!

Bassist: Retoree.
Anime: Show By Rock.
Band: Plasmagica.
Guitar name: Blue Station Electric Bass.
Comment: There seems to be a stereotype that people who aren’t outgoing or just the silent and shy type are usually the ones relegated playing the bass. Retoree is no different here. She might act cold and indifferent but all she actually wants is to make friends. The irony is that bassists are hardly the band member that nobody cares or notices. But let’s just be thankful that at least she has made significant progress in her friendship with her bandmates.

Bassist: Koko Tsukishima.
Anime: Da Capo II.
Band: Not known but it is a light music club from Kazami Academy.
Comment: This anime isn’t about music at all. She in this band is just cameo and a little diversion to the entire story. I guess now you can also add to the list of why being a bassist is also ignored when it comes to returning the feelings for your childhood friend. Bassists aren’t simply that popular. Haha! Okay, I made that one up.

Bassist: Ai Yamabuki.
Anime: Date A Live.
Band: Unsure but it was formed for the festival.
Comment: Who’d knew that the 3 stooges of the series could even play musical instruments and do a live gig on stage. Sure, they got ‘charmed’ by Miku into not doing so before their turn but even so, it meant that they could play a music instrument beforehand. At least not something ‘majihiku wa’…

Bassist: Ako Izumi.
Anime: Mahou Sensei Negima.
Band: Uncertain/unconfirmed.
Comment: It was such a long time ago I don’t remember much. I am sure that this wasn’t one of those ‘popular’ girls in the sense that they had not much screen time and focus like the other ‘popular’ ones. Anyway, it is also unsure if she is part of any band because as a manager of the school’s male football club and infirmary assistant, it is only listed playing the bass as part of her hobby.

Bassist: Elucia de Lute Ima AKA Elsie.
Anime: The World God Only Knows.
Band: 2-B Pencils.
Comment: Another clumsy airhead adept with the bass. I don’t know if she really has talent for this or just pure luck but she didn’t really screw up when it matters most so I guess she’s pretty alright in this sense.

Bassist: Haruko Haruhara.
Anime: FLCL.
Band: Nil.
Bass model: Rickenbacker 4000.
Comment: This is the only girl who doesn’t use a bass guitar as a musical instrument. In fact, she uses it as a weapon/club to smack Naoto in the forehead. And that is when all the funny and hazardous stuffs begin to ruin his life. No wonder not many people are keen in taking up the bass.

The Basis Of Being A Bassist
There are several more bassists out there but excluded from this list such as Roxie from Pokemon Best Wishes, Makina from Aikatsu and Holly Virginia Jones from Heroman. Mainly because I didn’t watch these animes so I figure that putting in for the sake of putting didn’t feel right. Hah. Excuses. Then there is also Stella from Interstella 5555 – The Story Of The Secret Star System. Not want to include this because this was some animation for music video that Daft Punk and Toei collaborated on and not really a real anime series (not that I would consider it of). If you noticed that many of the bassists here are left handers or at least play a left handed bass. I’m sure they took after Mio who also took after The Beatles’ Paul McCartney. Hmm… Maybe it looks symmetrically better that way when you’re on stage. Like anybody gives a damn because nobody loves the bassists in the first place… So if you’re the kind of person who would love to stay out of the limelight but provide sublime support to your bandmates, this is the instrument for you. Unless you’re exuding lots of moe like Mio then it can’t be helped.

Anime Girls Who Play The Guitar

Is it me or is it that idols are getting more ubiquitous than before? What’s wrong with that, you say? Actually there isn’t anything wrong about idols being a dime a dozen these days. Except that an awful lot of them don’t really play at least a musical instrument. Not even the instrument that is ‘easiest to pick up’, the guitar. No, really. This isn’t anything alerting nor am I trying to highlight something. Seriously, nothing implying. Good ol’ rock bands aren’t dying out yet. And since I myself play the guitar, I just noticed that there are a handful of rock band animes out there. Well, not much but it’s better than nothing. Even rarer are the fact of seeing girls jamming with them or an all-girls rock band. It may be common in reality but in the world of anime, you don’t often see much of this. So here are a handful of anime girls who play the guitar. Show me those riffs!

Guitarist: Yui Hirasawa and Azusa Nakano.
Anime: K-ON!
Band: Houkago Tea Time (Afterschool Tea Time).
Guitar model: Gibson Les Paul (Yu) and Fender’65 Mustang (Azusa).
Comment: Probably the most famous girl guitarists when you mention girls with guitar thanks to the moe elements that made them popular. Airhead Yui must be a talented genius despite having no prior experience in playing a guitar and only mastering it in a short time. Besides, how often do you have such person ending up as a band’s lead guitarist anyway? Probably it was before backup novice guitarist Azusa came in but even so, Azusa remained as the band’s second guitarist by her own consent.

Guitarist: Super Sonico.
Anime: Super Sonico The Animation.
Band: First Astronomical Velocity.
Guitar model: Gibson SG.
Comment: Another popular female guitarist that comes to mind is this busty mascot that was created for a game developer company. It was only a matter of time before she got her own set of fans and a self-titled anime. Am I seeing a trend that airheads make talented lead guitarists?

Guitarist: Masami Iwasawa, Hisako and Yui.
Anime: Angel Beats.
Band: Girls Dead Monster AKA GirlDeMo.
Guitar model: Fender Stratocaster (Iwasawa and Yui) and Fender Jazzmaster (Hisako).
Comment: Who says there can’t be music in the afterlife? But the band staging concerts aren’t just for fun and entertainment. It is part of a battle operation as diversion to distract NPCs while other non-band members attempt to take out Tenshi. Hisako had a traumatic experience with a band prior to joining GirlDeMo but after watching Iwasawa play, she picked it back up again and became to band’s lead guitarist. After Iwasawa’s disappearance, Yui replaces her as the band’s rhythm guitarist. The legend carries on…

Guitarist: Miyuki Enomoto and Takako Nakanishi.
Anime: Suzumiya Haruhi No Yuutsu.
Band: ENOZ.
Guitar model: Italia Mondial II Woody (Miyuki) and Gibson SG (Takako).
Comment: Parodied and based on a real life J-pop band, not much is known about these girls. They only appear in brief cameos throughout the series especially during the school cultural festival arc but I don’t remember seeing them in action because due to injuries, they were replaced by Haruhi and Nagato respectively during the actual day performance.

Guitarist: Cyan Hijirikawa and Chuchu.
Anime: Show By Rock.
Band: Plasmagica.
Guitar name: Strawberry Heart and Antique Batman Guitar respectively.
Comment: In a world where music rocks (pun intended) and those who rule their songs rule the world, I guess it is every band’s dream to put on a sparkling performance and reach to the top as well as reverberate through the hearts of fans alike. It is literally a dog eat dog world here and the competition gets even harder when there’s a music lord trying to take over the entire music of the universe. Who’d knew trying to reach number one also means saving the world.

Guitarist: Chihiro Kosaka and Ayumi Takehara.
Anime: The World God Only Knows.
Band: 2-B Pencils.
Comment: Chihiro formed this band of hers after being ‘saved’ by Keima. The tension in their friendship over that guy had Ayumi ‘unable to join the band’ but it was resolved in the end as she finally joined them in playing for the Mai-High Festival.

Guitarist: Haruka Kazemachi and Kurumi Etou.
Anime: Girlfriend (Kari).
Band: Neuron Cream Soft.
Comment: I don’t know much about a dating simulation game that has got over 100 girls. What more, an anime adapted into it and trying to cram in a bunch of them. I mean, when you have so many girls, you try to give each one some sort of personality and I guess being a rocker girl is one. Not much is known about their background (unless you play the game, I suppose) since there is only an episode dedicated to the band but even so that isn’t much…

Guitarist: Billy Jo AKA Ruu.
Anime: Pokemon Best Wishes.
Band: Koffing And The Toxics.
Comment: I didn’t see this anime so I can’t comment much. So I don’t know if the English version, her name was based on We Didn’t Start The Fire star, Billy Joel. I guess in this series, everyone can be a Pokemon trainer. Including punk rock band members. Gotta catch ‘em all, really. Thankfully, it’s a Pokemon battle that they will battle it out. Don’t want to hear Ash singing, don’t ‘cha?

Guitarist: Himeko.
Anime: Sket Dance.
Band: Yabasawa Books, subsequently The Sketchbook.
Comment: Although only featured shortly for the Kaimei Rock Festival, Himeko even taught Bossun how to play a guitar! She was drafted as Moe Yabasawa band’s guitarist but after all the members coincidentally fell ill before the performance day, thus the makeshift group of The Sketchbook with her Sket Dance members is formed so as not to let it all go to waste. On a trivial note, The Sketchbook is the only non-all-girl band in this list.

Rock On, Girls!
This list is of course not meant to be exhaustive as there might be lots more of girl rockers out there. Just that like in real life, they are obscure and not known very well to the public. As you can see, that many of these girls playing the part of the guitarist are also the ones who are the band’s songwriters and taking on the role as the band’s lead vocalist. That definitely makes them a talented lot, right? Such people should be considered as front runners for the Grammy’s because they write, compose and arrange the songs themselves and some even play multi-instruments. Instead of those who let others write the songs for them and play not a single instrument (not even a triangle?). So show these girls the same amount of respect and admiration too as you do for idols. After all, all they want is to entertain their fans with their brand of music.